The invention relates generally to gravity-advance conveyors and, more particularly, to inclined rollerways made of modular roller sections for conveying articles down an inclined path.
Gravity-advance roller conveyors, in which a roller conveyor bed is arranged on an incline, are often used to convey pallets or boxes from high levels to lower levels in warehouses. Because gravity-advance conveyors do not require a drive system, they are less complex than powered-roller conveyors. But, like all conventional metal roller conveyors, powered or not, gravity-advance roller conveyors are noisy when articles are advancing along them. Furthermore, the conveyor frames include mounting holes positioned along the sides to support the ends of the rollers or shafts on which the rollers rotate. Because of the fixed position of the mounting holes in a given conveyor frame, it is difficult to adapt the conveyor frame to accommodate, for example, a change in the orientation of the rollers without extensive rework.
Thus, there is a need for a conveyor that avoids some of the shortcomings of conventional gravity-advance roller conveyors.